1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to printers and printer connected hardware used in cashless gaming machines and gaming, and more specifically to hardware and firmware operating within this equipment for performing promotional ticket printing, promotional data basing, printer and printer connected hardware based promotional ticket triggering, and gaming voucher printing.
2. Background
The gaming machine manufacturing industry provides a variety of gaming machines for the amusement of gambling players. An exemplary gaming machine is a slot machine. A slot machine is an electro-mechanical game wherein chance or the skill of a player determines the outcome of the game. Slot machines are usually found in casinos or other more informal gaming establishments.
The gaming machine manufacturers have more recently introduced cashless enabled games to the market and these have begun to find wide acceptance in that industry. Cashless enabled games are so named due to the fact that they can conduct their player's financial exchange with a mixture of traditional currency and vouchers. Typically, a cashless enabled game has as installed components a printer to produce the vouchers, and a bill acceptor that supports automatic reading of the vouchers. In a cashless enabled gaming system, when a player cashes out, the system is signaled and depending on the size of the payout, the system can either present coins in the traditional method of a gaming machine, or it can cause the printers which are installed in such machines to produce a voucher containing the value of the payout. The voucher may then either be redeemed for cash at a cashier's cage, or inserted into a bill acceptor which is installed in the same or another cashless enabled gaming machine at a participating casino, at which point the system will recognize the voucher, redeem it and place the appropriate amount of playing credits on the game.
Over the last several years, cash-less enabled games have found an increasing acceptance and use in the gaming industry with both the players, who enjoy the speed of play and ease of transporting their winnings around the casino, and the casinos who have realized significant labor savings in the form of reduced coin hopper reloads in the games, and an increase in revenue due to speed of play. This increasing acceptance practically guarantees a wide installed base of networked games with captive player audiences for couponing and promotional tickets using generally the same equipment already installed within the game for the purpose of supporting cash-less gaming vouchers.
The printer contained in the gaming machine includes electrical, mechanical and electronic hardware and a computer program that is included in a memory device such as a flash memory chip, or other programmable storage devices. This computer program is commonly referred to as firmware. The firmware controls the operation of the printer.
There is an approval process that requires gaming machine manufactures to submit gaming machines for testing and approval. These regulatory agencies, such as Nevada Gaming Control Board, Gaming Laboratories International Inc., etc. approve gaming machines, including the installed printers, for use in casinos. Part of the record keeping of these agencies is to maintain a record of the firmware versions contained in the gaming machines and their components. Agencies normally require a mathematical identifier unique for a particular firmware version, thus ensuring an accurate method of checking the contents of printers that are in the field. A single mathematically unique identifier representing the complete contents of a particular firmware version is normally supplied by the firmware manufacturer. Any changes to the firmware must be again submitted for testing and approval. This is a lengthy process, often requiring two to three months for submission and approval.
Practical field experience with the application has illustrated that there are areas needing improvement in the current printer designs and implementation within the game related to improved methods and means of verifying the correctness of the actual firmware that is contained in the printer program memory device and providing a means to modify firmware without a lengthy approval process.